At Least 5,000 Killed in Iran Protests, Official Says, As Trump Calls for Change In Leadership

At least 5,000 people were killed in the protests that gripped Iran this month, according to an Iranian official, 500 of whom were security personnel. 

The toll is the highest yet cited by a government source for the nationwide protests that shook Iran’s establishment and brought the United States to the brink of intervention. 

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

The Iranian official, who was quoted by Reuters, blamed “Israel and armed groups abroad” for the high number of people killed, and said the government’s official count was unlikely to go much higher.  

Protests erupted in Tehran after the rial, Iran’s currency, crashed on December 28. The demonstrations quickly snowballed into a broader anti-government movement calling for the fall of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Read More: For Trump, a Path Forward on Iran That Goes Beyond Bombs

The crackdown began with an internet blackout on Jan. 8, plunging the country into an information darkness and preventing humanitarian groups and governments alike from understanding the full extent of the killing.

According to human rights groups, protesters were killed by security forces en masse. Throughout the blackout, IHR estimates that more than 20,000 people have been arrested in connection with the protests.

That blackout has made an accurate death toll difficult to ascertain, as humanitarian groups struggle to reach contacts on the ground. But as early as last week, an informal group of academics and professionals working at hospitals and contacted by TIME said protester deaths between Jan. 8 and Jan. 10 alone could have reached 6,000.

In a video address Saturday, Khamenei said “thousands” had died in the protests, “some in an inhuman, savage manner.” He blamed the United States and President Donald Trump for the extent of destruction, calling him a “criminal”.

“We will not drag the country into war, but we will not let domestic or international criminals go unpunished,” Khamenei said. 

Trump has hinted in recent days that he came close to authorizing military strikes against Iran over the crackdown. He spent days last week threatening Iran’s leaders if the crackdown continued, and on Jan. 13 declared, “help is on its way.”

He was reportedly presented with military options to strike Iran on Tuesday, but by Friday, he appeared to have decided against the move after claiming that Iran had canceled some 800 executions of protesters it had planned.

“The best decision he ever made was not hanging more than 800 people two days ago,” Trump told POLITICO about Iran’s Supreme Leader on Saturday. 

But in that same interview, Trump reacted with anger over Khamenei’s remarks that blamed Trump for the high death toll in Iran. 

“It’s time to look for new leadership in Iran,” he declared. 

Trump said Khamenei “should focus on running his country properly, like I do with the United States, and not killing people by the thousands in order to keep control.”

It is unclear whether Trump is still considering military action against Iran. Several news outlets reported on Friday that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was heading towards the Middle East and would arrive in approximately one week.